Movin my shop maybe. Need advice.

[FoggyMountain]

My chick got sick from mold in my house and we have been living apart for 2 months and paying all the rent is going to be hard after the holidays. So i just gave my 30 days notice.

Right now i am tied down to working from my parents shop, which is cool because it is larger then i need, but a very unproductive work environment with constant distractions which can not be avoided. Also it keeps my options for moving limited due to my daily commute. So i am looking to stay close or i am looking for a place with a garage or basement to work from. Anywhere north of San Francisco would be optimal.

My one problem is do I tell renters the truth when they ask my profession? I have been told by some people that they want nothing to do with me. Others have told me that i need to pay for liability plus fire insurance for the house that i would be renting. This makes everything a lot more difficult. It makes me just want to tell them i do freelance HVAC, and get my jobs off craigslist, and then just set up shop until they become wiser.

Any suggestions? I am sure someone else has been in my situation before.

[Glacier_Arts_Studio]

my suggestion is, rent shop space here,
thegldg... (http://www.thegldg.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23174)
it is what i would do if i was on the west coast...

[VinE]

My chick got sick from mold in my house and we have been living apart for 2 months and paying all the rent is going to be hard after the holidays. So i just gave my 30 days notice.

Right now i am tied down to working from my parents shop, which is cool because it is larger then i need, but a very unproductive work environment with constant distractions which can not be avoided. Also it keeps my options for moving limited due to my daily commute. So i am looking to stay close or i am looking for a place with a garage or basement to work from. Anywhere north of San Francisco would be optimal.

My one problem is do I tell renters the truth when they ask my profession? I have been told by some people that they want nothing to do with me. Others have told me that i need to pay for liability plus fire insurance for the house that i would be renting. This makes everything a lot more difficult. It makes me just want to tell them i do freelance HVAC, and get my jobs off craigslist, and then just set up shop until they become wiser.

Any suggestions? I am sure someone else has been in my situation before.
Welcome to the wonderful fun-filled proffession of glass !!!
My $.02
Get a 2nd job (that will look good on the lease), find roomates who like glass and have a house allready, tell the Landlord you make "jewelry", move to someplace like Ohio,Michigan, or Burque where rent is real cheap, and not being a heroin addict is a +++ for landlords.

p.s. the hvac craigslist shit sounds weak. I wouldn't fall for it if I was your landlord.

-oh yea, don't forget to shower and dress nice when you go to meet with someone to rent a place.

[Greymatter Glass]

Vine, it's mostly tweakers here....

Just sayin'

[FoggyMountain]

That looks sweet. But i am trying to stay below Arcata if at all possible. My clients are all in the South bay and i will need to drive there probably 2-3 times a month to make sales. That is until i can find a good shipping arrangement.

If i have to stay at my current shop i think i need to put up a big plexy glass wall to keep people and distractions out. It is amazing how many people stand between me and the kiln while i am working, and i constantly have to tell them to move and give me some elbow space while I work. People don't always understand how hard it can be sometimes to have a conversation while working with hot glass. So i ask them if i can chat with them at work while they measure and cut sheet rock :)

[Blacksheep]

put up a small building that is detached from the house or if there is a shed covert it to your shop thats one way of keeping the shop out of the house and incurring worry from landlords

i lucked out with our new place it has a separate 2 floor building that the power comes into first ,ive just spent the last month drywalling,laminate flooring it and am now just putting in the glass works. i have ordered my first liquid tank for this coming tues wooohoooo :)

always nice to be out of the house as to have everything inspected etc etc for insurance would be costly and ill bet even after that the fire insurance would be hella expensive

[phab]

...valleo is probably pretty cheap, south bay aint that far

[PyroChixRock]

I always tell the landlords, i'd hate to get evicted if I didn't tell them and they found out. moving sucks but moving twice and hella fast because you get evicted would suck more.

I've never had any problem. When I tell them what I do I always follow it by I also carry renters insurance. And even tho that's not liability/fire (tho i think i carry that too) it's usually enough to stop them from asking more. and at that point hand them a marble to see if I'm talking in person.

my renters and biz insurance (which I think is where the fire/liability comes in) is a combines $26 a month. It's automatically debited from my account and I never have to worry about it. I use state farm.

[FoggyMountain]

Good advice pyrochix. The renters insurance sounds like a good idea. I am going to check out a place right now. The landowner is actually an artist and they are renting a garage\artist studio attached to a larger studio. I have already shown them some of my work and they seem quite interested in what i do. I just need to keep my fingers crossed when i got meet them today. Who knows i might even be able to give lessons in trade for rent! Probably not but how sweet would that be!

Good luck with your shop blacksheep. Sounds like you almost got it up and running. Good advice too. I hope i don't have to use a storage shed, but if its my only choice i will do what i need to.

* Staying positive *

[Eric S]

i second the insurance. i get renters insurance for like 17 a month and i got the highest coverage possible which is like 500,000 for damage to the house and property, 10,000 for each roommates property, and 5 or 10k for medical issues that arise on the premise.

[SouthernFume]

i have and ins. policy that totals to 3 million. it also covers me when i go to someone else's place to work. costs about 550 a yr.

[VED]

i lucked out and found a place with a detached garage about 20 ft from the house, so god forbid i burn the place down the house wont be hurt, but i also carry insurance, plus even if the house did burn down it would take 2 weeks for the landlord to get back to us. good luck with your new place i feel ya on the working in a distracting enviroment.

[styles1 torchlife]

Foggy check out torchlife.us shop profile page.

[FoggyMountain]

So I am now in Gold Country in the middle of California. I moved into a nice place where i can work, but now all the people giving me renters inssurnace quotes tell me that they wont cover my business. I need something else called business risk insurance or something like that.

Southernfume: who is your insurance provider? 3 million would be way more then i need and the cost sounds great.

[FoggyMountain]

OK so i just got business owners insurance. I am now with worldwide insurance specialist.

I got ...

$200,000 Tenant Legal Liability
300,000 damage to property i rent
1,000,000 Each Occurrence
1,000,000 Personal and Advertising Injury
2,000,000 general aggregate
2,000,000 Products/Completed Operations Aggregate

for only $398 a year, or 4 payments of about $50. They know about my liquid oxy tanks and everything. I am insured for manufacturing glass and running a business from my home! Thanks everyone and be sure if you have renters insurance they cover your type of business.

Pyrochix: I almost got State Farm renters\business insurance and they told me they don't insure people in my situation. I imagine State farm might be a little more nicer to people like us where you live, but i thought i would mention it just in case something were to happen and you actually weren't covered.

[Super Phunk]

Yeah Misha, i like that move and have done it, " look into my dichro marble, you are becoming fascinated, you will rent me your house and be chill, now go landlord and leave me to my pipe making"

Industrial shop space is always the best root to go, 3 phase power, loading docks and drive in doors. Dude, definitely dont leave cali, your in the promise land. It may be expensive, but a medi license and a back room should cover your shop expenses.

The two houses that i have had my shops in have been owned by heads and they never cared abit or were concerned with insurance or fire or anything like that, just look for cool chill landlords.

[FoggyMountain]

Well the landlord is very chill about a lot of other things that are quite worth staying for, but he did build the house i am living in only 6 years ago and i can see why he might be concerned. I don't mind paying insurance, it makes me feel better too. If i burn the house down without insurance, then it sure would suck to spend the rest of my life paying to rebuild a house i will never get to live in.